CLARKE Grade 10

W. T. CLARKE HIGH SCHOOL
2020 Summer Reading List
Grade 10

Students must complete the summer assignment found here.

Mandatory Reading 10R

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
A gripping, minute-by-minute account of the demise of the “unsinkable” Titanic, the massive luxury liner that housed a French “sidewalk cafe” and a grand staircase, among other extravagances, but failed to provide enough lifeboats for the 2,207 passengers on board.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Cold Mountain is the tale of a wounded soldier Inman, who walks away from the ravages of the Civil War and back home to his prewar sweetheart, Ada. Inman’s odyssey through the devastated landscape of the soon-to-be-defeated South interweaves with Ada’s struggle to revive her father’s farm, with the help of an intrepid young drifter named Ruby.

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
On the anniversary of the roundup of Jews by the French police in Paris, Julia is asked to write an article on this dark episode and embarks on an investigation that leads her to long-hidden family secrets and to the ordeal of Sarah.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
During the summer of 1964 in rural South Carolina, a young girl is given a home by three black, beekeeping sisters. As she enters their mesmerizing secret world of bees and honey, she discovers a place where she can find the single thing her heart longs for most.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Honors)
Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper’s son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.

Voluntary Social Studies Reading, 10R, 10H, AP

Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
For more than 20 years, Sultan Khan has defied the authorities–whether Communist or Taliban–to supply books to the people of Kabul. He has been arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned, and has watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. Yet he had persisted in his passion for books, shedding light in one of the world’s darkest places.

In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
It is November 25, 1960, and three beautiful sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The official state newspaper reports their deaths as accidental. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s dictatorship. It doesn’t have to. Everybody knows of Las Mariposas—“The Butterflies.”

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Living with a foster family in Germany during World War II, a young girl struggles to survive her day-to-day trials through stealing anything she can get her hands on, but when she discovers the beauty of literature, she realizes that she has been blessed with a gift that must be shared with others, including the Jewish man hiding in the basement.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Okonkwo, a great man in Igbo traditional society, cannot adapt to the profound changes brought about by British colonial rule. Yet, as in classic tragedy, Okonkwo’s downfall results from his own character as well as from external forces.